While we were in Virginia for the Holidays we got to do a lot of fun stuff. One of the last days we were there was New Years Eve and we decided to take all four kids and go to the roller skating rink for some good 'ole fun. Back in the day…like middle school days….skating was my favorite thing to do so I was stoked to go with the kiddo's. Charlie and Addie have been several times….but Shelby….she was a rookie.
We get her skates on and she is doing pretty good on the carpet area…since you can't roll there and all. When we hit the rink it was just comical….she had no control over her legs at all and just kept falling….over and over again. She just kept smiling though and giving me that look of "am I doing good Mommy?". Ric and I would take turns dragging her around the rink while she just kept trying. Her cute little side ponytail was now falling down….she had literally fallen down 123 times…but she kept skating and loved every second of it.
My mom had come with us and had been playing with Jesse so we could both skate and then she had to leave to cook dinner. I took Jesse over to the indoor playground, which he had a ball on, and as I was watching him play, I looked out on the rink and saw Ric and Shelby skating. They were in the middle of the floor and she was learning how to stand up on her own when she fell. Ric was bent over teaching her how to do it….and she did it. She picked herself up off that wood roller rink and stood herself up and she skated…about five feet and then fell. She repeated the above, with Ric cheering her on the whole time, until she skated all the way to the side of the rink all by herself where she jumped victoriously into her Daddy's arms. It was precious and a proud moment for this Momma. Not because she learned to skate…but that she didn't give up on it….and she worked through the 123 falls and she got it!
I got all welled up in that little playground watching my youngest daughter give her best effort. She is a fighter…not a quitter. I have known that all her life, but to see it play out the way it did in front of my eyes was priceless. And yes, I got all redneck and yelled across the whole skating rink "You did it Shelby"!
Shelby showed me that day that sometimes things are hard, especially when you are learning something new, but to keep getting up…even if you fall 123 times. Why? Because in the end, you will not only have your redneck momma hollering for you in front of 200 people, but you will succeed…you will get it. SO many times in life we get discouraged…beaten down….we fall. Sometimes we want to stay there…we don't want to get up. I know this because I have been there in life. I encourage you today to remember Shelby if you are in that place, to remember those bruised little knees and messed up hair….to remember how she worked so hard to figure it out…and that she got it! She could have easily unlaced those uncomfortable skates and given up after the first try…but she didn't and she was able to unlace those skates at the end….a skater! I hope that it will encourage you to keep getting up…to not give up…to not give in!
I can tell you all this because I know a God who always is there to help me get back up. A God that encourages me through His word….A God that promises to never leave me nor forsake me….A God who I trust. I heard Jonathan Falwell preach the Sunday I was in Virginia and he shared with us his dad's(Dr. Jerry Falwell's) favorite verse. The verse he put below his autograph….and I needed to hear it. Philippians 1:6 ~ "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [it] until the day of Jesus Christ" . So today I will be encouraged because He is still working on me….He is not giving up on me…even when I fall. I pray that through His strength and His strength alone that when I do…that I would get up…just like little Shelby Jean!
Tiny Truth's for this Thursday~
~That roller skating is so much fun
~That I love to see my kids have fun
~That Shelby's ponytail was not tight enough
~That my husband is so cute when he teaches our kids
~That Shelby is a fighter and doesn't give up
~That through God's strength…we shouldn't either
~That I am glad He is still working on me
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing Shelby and the rest of your family with us. I am in that "learning something new place." I have fallen down at least 100 times, in my mind but thanks to your encouragement to "straighten up my pony tail" and try again, again, and again.
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